


Tsagualsa's Ghost

by NostramosRevenge



Category: Warhammer 40.000
Genre: AU, Gen, OC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-04-13 21:49:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14121537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NostramosRevenge/pseuds/NostramosRevenge
Summary: Two Night Lords warbands receive a radio transmission that leads them to Tsagualsa. Many of them are very reluctant to go, stating that the message is a trap. Others claim that Tsagualsa is cursed and/or haunted. Crelum believes the future of the legion depends on what they find there. All of them are right.





	Tsagualsa's Ghost

The gathered Night Lords stood in silence, each thinking to themselves about the information they'd just received. A meeting of representatives from both warbands had been called in light of an encoded transmission. Both warbands had been within range of the transmission on separate agendas when they intercepted the signal. While Imperial techs who'd intercepted the transmission were still pondering over it, the Night Lords had no trouble deciphering its contents. It was in Nostraman. It was transmitted using an encryption that hadn't been used since well before the legion was split by the Primogenitors.

The actual message was nothing more than a set of coordinates, but that proved to be troublesome. The gathered Night Lords had begun arguing immediately, some claiming the message to be a clever imperial/eldar/chaos trap, some claiming it to be a recording by Curze himself, some saying it may be Zso Sahaal or Jago Sevatar, and some claiming it to be some rogue Night Lord warband looking to gain influence.

The debate was fierce, but it was decided that two squads would be sent to the coordinates containing members from both of the warbands, including their leaders.

The coordinates, they uneasily discovered, led to the legion's old fortress on Tsagualsa. Many supported abandoning the mission immediately. That planet, they said, was cursed and should never be returned to.

Crelum of the Eclipse warband believed that the mission should be carried out. Crelum was known to be an idealist who still believed not only in Curze's teachings, but that Sevatar still lived and would lead the legion one night.

Mulox of the Dark Stars believed that they should all leave the area immediately. His cabal had informed him that nothing worth finding was present.

These two led the squad from their respective warbands to the surface. The squads dropped outside of the fortress in two Thunderhawks. The coordinates were within the fortress's upper levels.

Both squads made good time getting to the destination, despite several setbacks. The main setback was that the Primogenitor attack had decimated the building, making a clear path to the target difficult to find. The second was that comms were constantly in and out. Dasc, a techmarine from the Dark Stars, theorized it may be some ancient jamming security system still functioning. Most seriously doubted this explanation; they had no knowledge of any such jamming systems in the fortress.

After about two hours of making their way through the abandoned fortress, Mulox found a box containing parts for power swords. Mulox asked Dasc to see if the parts were usable and moved on to the next box. Dasc made no reply. Mulox called out to him and heard no answer. Dasc was nowhere to be found. Both squads immediately tensed and began searching the room for hostiles. Most immediately activated Preysight.

Crelum looked at any possible hiding place for either Dasc or an assailant while Mulox scanned his eyes across the room, searching for movement.

Movement near a support column.  
Mulox whirled himself to face towards the column, bolter trained on his target. It was just a tattered cloth hanging from the column, swaying in the breeze. Mulox relaxed for an instant until it hit him. This room was sealed. There was no breeze.

Mulox began firing but there was nothing there. A nearby marine urgently stated, "Let's get out of here. This was a tr--".

Before he could finish, both of his hearts were punctured, leaving him bleeding out onto the floor. Nobody had seen anything. Some of the Dark Stars were now beseeching their dark gods for assistance, two were running, and Mulox was trying to regain control over the marines when more Night Lords began screaming. An Eclipse had been beheaded, his helm crashing into another Eclipse's helm with a dull thud. The astartes fell to the ground, bleeding profusely from his crushed face. Crelum told his men to form up in a circle in the center of the room and keep their eyes towards the man on their right. If anybody were to be killed, somebody would see the daemon responsible.

Crelum himself stood in the middle of the circle on top of a supply box, watching the slaughter without ever seeing the slaughterer. One of the Dark Stars hurled a psychic bolt wildly, destroying a box nearby. In the warp light of the bolt, Crelum got a brief glance at their attacker. A black wraith, it's skin like cloth was swiping at Mulox. The wraith looked almost like the sheet ghosts that children used to terrify each other, but it was black and appeared to be tattered. Mulox was cut in half like he was made of smoke.

Suddenly there was silence. All of the Dark Stars squad was dead or dying. Half of the Eclipse squad was dead, and Crelum silently noted that they were the half that he believed bore the taint of the warp. A shadow began gliding towards him. Crelum was too astonished to move. Night Lords never found any shadow to dark to see in, but this one seemed to absorb light like a black hole. Crelum had his men break from the circle and face towards where the shadow had been. It had vanished again.

Crelum spotted it again, holding up the top half of Mulox. Mulox barely managed to whisper "No" before an arm punched through Mulox's throat. With sickening noises, it dug around then tossed something onto the floor. The wraith stamped on it, then hurled the corpse across the room. It spun towards Crelum and began moving, taking the shape of something less than human but more than an astartes. Crelum told his men to copy him.

Crelum dropped his weapon and clasped his hand over his chest, fingers parted to expose his primary heart. His remaining squad did likewise. The wraith halted, claws poised to deliver a killing blow. It stooped and awkwardly bent down to Crelum's height. It's black eyes looked at him in his black eyes, and asked, "What has become of my Legion, my son?"

**Author's Note:**

> The Dark Stars are a fleet-based warband that has fully pledged itself to the dark gods. Their name comes from their emblem, which features a winged skull surrounded by a black eight pointed star. The two named characters from the chapter, Mulox and Dasc, are named for X-Files characters Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.  
> The Eclipse is also fleet based, though they do not embrace nor even tolerate chaos. The warband gets its name from its tactics of striking planets during a solar eclipse and using their ships to eclipse the sun when they attack without a natural eclipse. Crelum gets his name from crepusculum, meaning twilight or dusk.  
> The major similarities between the two warbands imply that they both are descended from a predecessor warband.  
> This piece has no specific date for a reason. I believe it can fit either before or after Decimus's rise, though if it occurs before it'd probably prevent it.


End file.
